The minister claimed that the ET reporter sent him an SMS seeking his apology.

Union Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday claimed that a journalist with a national daily newspaper apologised to him after misquoting him on gay rights issue in an article posted on its website earlier in the day.

The Economic Times had carried the article on Tuesday where Gowda was quoted as saying that India could look into scrapping the controversial Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises gay sex, and pave the way for recognition of homosexuals.

Hours after the article surfaced, Gowda claimed that he was misquoted and asked the ET to remove the story. The business daily was also quick to withdraw the article from its website.

"It is totally misquoted. When I was asked about the judgment that was given by the US court, I said that it is not an easy task in our country. So, the people of that country might have accepted it but here it has to be widely debated. Only then can something be done. Otherwise, it is not an easy task. So, we have no idea of scrapping or doing anything about [Section] 377," ANI quoted Gowda as saying.

The minister even claimed that the ET reporter, Sowmya Aji, sent him an SMS seeking his apology.

Talking to ANI, Swamy said "homosexuality is a genetic disorder". This statement was posted as a tweet on ANI Twitter handle. Replying to another user's comment on the ANI post, Swamy said "Homos are genetically handicapped".

I think the law minister was misquoted,our party position has been that homosexuality is a genetic disorder-Subramanian Swamy,BJP

The Delhi High Court had in 2009 scrapped Section 377 and said it was unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court in December 2013 overturned the high court order and once again made gay sex a punishable offence.